Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 January 2018
In this work, we report on the electron spin resonance (ESR) studies performed on few-layered nanocrystalline (NCs) MoS2, WS2, and TiS2 prepared using hydrothermal and vapor transport methods. From the temperature dependent ESR spectra collected from MoS2 NCs, we have identified adsorbed oxygen species, sulphur vacancies, thio- and oxo-Mo5+ related paramagnetic defect centers. WS2 NCs have exhibited W+3 and oxo-W+5 paramagnetic defect spin species. TiS2 NCs showed defects such as Fe3+ (unwanted), oxygen and sulfur vacancies. This work demonstrates the usage of spin-sensitive spectroscopy such as ESR in unravelling the defects which contain unpaired electron spin centers in layered NCs two-dimensional materials.